


extra, extra, read all about it

by 99yeon



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Capitalist!Chuuves, F/F, Partners to Lovers, everyone appears, journalist!lip and camerawoman!soul
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:35:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27757024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/99yeon/pseuds/99yeon
Summary: High-strung journalist Jungeun gets paired with aimless camerawoman Jung Jinsol for the scoop of a lifetime.
Relationships: Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 3
Kudos: 102





	extra, extra, read all about it

**Author's Note:**

> hello! the premise of this was inspired directly by S6E2 of bojack horseman, i thought about it at 4am and couldn't stop thinking about an au like that  
> cw for: substance abuse, scenes of anxiety, alcohol 
> 
> akso theres mentions of sex 
> 
> enjoy!

"I just don't get it," Jungeun says.

Jinsol's body seizes with shock as she's ripped from the periphery of a dream she was having - and a particularly good one at that. Something that involved lying on a float in the middle of the ocean. 

She shoots a look out of the window. It's so dark that it has to be the darkest time of night, but Jungeun is rarely bothered by petty semantics like 'time' and 'common human decency', and Jinsol has become very familiar with the fact that Jungeun will actively judge her if she doesn't share that same reckless abandon. 

Short of shining a flashlight directly into her eyes (and Jinsol is only half-sure Jungeun wouldn't do that if she couldn't ascertain whether Jinsol was awake yet), Jungeun says, "You're awake? Good." 

As Jinsol fumbles for her glasses on the nightstand, Jungeun continues talking. "So, why would a massively popular band break up so abruptly? If you read the interviews Bazaar printed with Choerry and Olivia Hye, just three months before their disbandment, it's all rainbows and sunshine. Gowon was on the cover of Vanity Fair a month later, and word has it that they were going to do a group cover before Yeojin got sick with the stomach flu." 

Jungeun's eyes glitter. "Vanity Fair's chief editor was fine with having just the other three on the cover, but they refused and said they wouldn't do it with only three of them. That's why they just put Gowon on it in the end. Why would a group with such strong chemistry break up under the circumstances they did?" 

"This is a lot of words you're throwing at me right now." Jinsol's voice comes out as a croak, and Jungeun immediately reaches behind her for a water bottle. She accepts the bottle, drinking eagerly to clear her throat. "Thanks." 

"I haven't slept," Jungeun proffers, as if it's something Jinsol couldn't tell. 

"Clearly," Jinsol says dryly. Her voice has returned to an appropriate amount of husk with the water, but she clears her throat once again for good measure. She scoots over on her bed so Jungeun can sit down and not stand over her with her hands on her hips like a third-rate hotel ghost. 

Jungeun looks confused. Jinsol rolls her eyes and yanks her down to sit. 

"Have you considered that bands just break up for no reason?" Jinsol asks, looking Jungeun in the eye. The fire in Jungeun's eyes is omnipresent, outfitting her as every bit the investigative journalist hungering for a scoop. Needing to know the truth, needing to reason it out and parcel it so that everyone can know it too. "I was in a band with Sooyoung and Jiwoo, you know. We broke up because I got a girlfriend and Sooyoung thought it'd affect our lyrics." 

(It was a grunge band called _single4life_.) 

Jungeun groans at the mention of their bosses, but Jinsol just laughs. 

Funnily enough, her high school band links to Sooyoung and Jiwoo, joint founders of _Girl Front_ , the one stop shop online outlet for feminist gossip news (and election coverage), was what got her this job. They'd been looking for a cameraman to work with Jungeun, on the launch of _Girl Fron_ t's new video platform, _Girl Front Beyond_. 

("Jungeun is... Very intense," Sooyoung says, looking to Jiwoo, who nods enthusiastically, and then back to Jinsol. "But if you can handle it, the job's yours.) 

"Your high school band isn't what these girls were." Jungeun checks her watch. "We have an interview with Choerry in an hour. I'll get the truth out of her. I'm gonna go brush my teeth." 

There's no point trying to get back to sleep at this point. Jinsol switches off her alarm, trots over to the corner of the room where all her gear's stored, making sure that she has everything ready for their interview. Choerry had been nice enough to give this interview for free, so they should try their very best not to piss her off. 

She should remind Jungeun of that, but she doesn't think Jungeun will listen any way.

-

"This okay?" Jinsol asks, and Choerry nods, giving Jinsol a pretty smile. Jinsol was never into the biggest girl band in the country, but Luna were on every possible piece of media on and off the internet in Jinsol's early twenties. She bought a Luna-themed limited edition Lego set once, just for the kicks, and as a result has a Gowon figure somewhere in her storage unit. 

"Test your mics, please," Jinsol requests, leaning back in her seat, her camera unit resting on her shoulder. Jungeun and Choerry do so, and she flashes them a thumbs up. "In three, two."

The hotel breakfast lounge is relatively empty of people, but there are still people curiously peering over to their table, and doing comical double-takes when they realize Choerry's at the table. It's been five years since the peak of her fame, and her star has long fallen, but Jinsol figures that the star factor never leaves you. 

She zones back into the conversation - Jungeun and Choerry ("Call me Yerim, I haven't been called Choerry in years!") have passed the pleasantries phase of their chat, and Jungeun's brow has begun to crease in a familiar way, signaling Jinsol to start a slow zoom-in. That, and make sure Jungeun doesn't get too intense.

It's a fine line to walk. 

Jungeun also likes leaning in when she's talking to people, which is mildly amusing for Jinsol and utterly terrifying for her interviewees. Yerim starts leaning back, and Jinsol makes another note to film more b-roll footage later. 

"Tell me about Heejin." 

Yerim's eyes widen ever-so-slightly before she resumes an unaffected expression. She laughs, "Do you mean Yeojin? My groupmate?" 

"No, I mean Heejin," Jungeun says firmly, locked in for the kill. Jinsol is generally up to date on whatever story they're chasing, and is usually clued-in, but sometimes Jungeun goes down on tangents, chasing leads only she can see. "She manages Olivia Hye now, but she used to manage your group. Why? It's not as if the rest of you didn't pursue solo careers. Why Olivia?" 

Yerim laughs nervously, "It was just happenstance. We were on good terms the whole time." 

"Heejin was caught on tape cursing out Luna," and Jungeun produces a phone recording. It's a short ten seconds, and although Jinsol knew this was coming, it still shocks her a little, how acidic Heejin's words are. Jungeun had procured the recording from someone working backstage at a show Olivia was on - one of Jungeun's many industry contacts. The tape ends, and Jungeun raises an eyebrow. "Do you think Heejin may have engineered the breakup of your group?" 

"No," Yerim says simply. 

"Then what happened?"

Jinsol tries to reach her foot across and kick Jungeun in the shin, but she's too far to reach. 

"We decided to go our separate ways," Yerim says stiffly, fiddling with her fingers in a way that makes it patently clear that she's lying. "It was time." 

"At the peak of your careers?" Jungeun cocks an eyebrow judgmentally, "That was the time?" 

Yerim looks away from Jungeun and straight into the camera. "Cut the cameras, would you?" 

When it becomes apparent she won't budge, Jinsol hesitantly lowers the camera, looking to Jungeun. Interviewees getting angry at Jungeun isn't new, which makes for entertaining content on _Girl Front Beyond_ that Jiwoo praises _,_ but it's never fun to sit in that fury. Jungeun, on the other hand, doesn't really care when people are angry with her. It's part of the job for her. 

Instead of screaming at Jungeun or throwing something at Jinsol, though, Yerim produces a ballpoint from her purse and scribbles a number on her napkin. She writes the name _KIM HYUNJIN_ and underlines it twice. "She can give you more information. But this is all I can tell you." 

Jungeun blinks, but takes the napkin anyway, staring dumbly. Without another word, Yerim stands and bids the two of them goodbye, striding out of the lounge, leaving a trail of starstruck people in her wake. Must be nice to have that sort of power- and Goddamnit, Jinsol realizes Yerim just walked off with her mic. 

  
"I don't think I'm getting that mic back," Jinsol sighs, staring longingly after Yerim and the mic she's just accidentally stolen.

Jungeun has the decency to look apologetic. 

"Sorry. I know how much your, uh, mic means to you." Jungeun starts messing with hers trying to get it off, sending feedback ringing into Jinsol's ears as the fabric of her blouse brushes against the mic. Jinsol laughs softly, leaning over to help her with it. 

Jinsol's breath hitches when she looks up, an inch from Jungeun. Jungeun's eyes are wide, and the investigative journalist is at a loss for words - which is a rarity. 

Jinsol laughs nervously, moving away, "We should get to work on contacting Kim Hyunjin."

Jungeun's cheeks are red. She nods quickly, looking away. "Yeah. Let's go."

-

" _Jinsol! Jungeun!_ " Jiwoo's voice rings across the line, " _How are things?_ "

"It's just me, actually," Jinsol clarifies, shooting a look to the balcony, where Jungeun's on the phone, brow furrowed and mouth moving quickly. "We've gotten a lead on the Luna thing. Looks promising. Jungeun could probably tell you more if you want." 

" _No, it's fine_ ," Jiwoo says dismissively, " _As long as you're getting that content for us?_ "

A pregnant pause builds before Jinsol realizes that she's meant to answer Jiwoo. "Oh, yeah. We are." 

" _Won-der-ful_!" Jiwoo cheers, and Jinsol hears applause on the other end. " _We're looking at an acquisition soon. Isn't that exciting_?" 

"What?" Jinsol asks, "Are you getting acquired or are you acquiring something?" 

Jiwoo laughs pointlessly. " _Does it matter? Sooyoung and I are going to be rich!_ "  
  


"You already _are_ rich," Jinsol points out, the statement reminding her that she should've thrown her lot in with Jiwoo and Sooyoung in high school instead of deciding to become a freelance camerawoman. Now Jiwoo and Sooyoung have built a media empire, become capitalist overlords who overwork their employees but pretend to compensate with free yoga lessons held in the foyer once a month, and Jinsol… works for them. 

" _Oh. Yeah! Bye Jinsol, tell Jungeun I said hi!_ "

Jiwoo hangs up, and Jinsol sighs - it really is hard to dislike Jiwoo. That's the thing about most of the people she's met while working at _Girl Front._ Jungeun, Sooyoung, and Jiwoo individually have so many dislikeable traits that it should be easy for Jinsol, who's always prided herself on her discerning taste in people, to silently resent them. But it's difficult, because she does like them.

Her eyes land on Jungeun again, who's hung up her own call and is staring into space, and Jinsol sighs. 

"Hey," she greets as Jungeun comes back into the room, sliding the door closed behind her. "Jiwoo just called. I think _Girl Front_ is getting acquired. Did you get in touch with Kim Hyunjin?" 

Jungeun shakes her head morosely. "No, that was my ex-wife calling." 

Jinsol freezes, immediately uncomfortable. She knows Jungeun's been divorced for a year now, and that she'd been the frontrunner for _Girl Front Beyond_ because she was fine with travelling around the country, with no obligations at home. She knows Jungeun's blonde hair is the result of an impulse decision she made after her ex signed the papers. However, Jinsol never has any idea how to react when Jungeun's ex is brought up, which makes things infinitesimally more awkward. 

"I'd rather not talk about it," Jungeun says, a little harshly. Her eyes are red, but Jinsol gets the impression Jungeun wouldn't appreciate her mentioning that. "Let's just get to work." 

And Jinsol has no inclination of her own - so she goes along with it. 

-

_"This is Kim Lip, signing off for Girl Front."_

Jinsol mouths along to the words as she wraps up the editing of an unreleased video - an expose on the unhygienic practices of a local corn field. They haven't had much downtime, jetting from interview to interview, so Jinsol's had to edit on the road or at night. It's all part of the job. 

She replays the last part of the video, squinting at the corner of the screen when she thinks she sees a bug flickering in the sunlight, wondering if she'll have to edit it out. 

"This is Kim Lip, signing off for Girl Front," Jungeun's voice comes from behind her, echoing her own voice, and she laughs, sitting down beside Jinsol. They're in a different city today for an interview with Gowon, who had been agreeable to a sit-down only after Sooyoung had pulled some stops and cashed in some favours for them. In a way, the stakes are even higher than the interview with Choerry. "Are you obsessed with me, Jinsol?" 

Jinsol rolls her eyes. "I'm editing your video, Jungeun. There's this stupid flash of light in the corner." 

Jungeun leans her chin on Jinsol's chin, humming, "It's coming from my ring. The sunlight got reflected off it."

"Great," Jinsol retorts. "Now wear fewer rings."

Jungeun giggles, and pats Jinsol on the shoulder, "Not happening."

-

By and large, the two of them travel alone. Alone, and with the company credit card, but physically, still very alone. They have a big van with the words _GIRL FRONT_ stencilled on the side, with plenty of space for Jinsol's gear and the mountains of notes Jungeun has for their various interviews. The amount of information she's capable of storing in her head is almost egregious. 

They've been criticized by a rival site, _Girl of the Month_ , of having engaged in gotcha journalism. Jungeun had gotten supremely irritated and wrote a long op-ed on _Girl of the Month_ , espousing just exactly what she thought of them, but Jinsol has to admit it: they're not wrong. They may have noble intentions, but a lot of their videos boil down to gotcha journalism. 

It's endearing, and admirable, how Jungeun throws herself heart and soul into something she is so obviously better than. How her hunger for the truth doesn't wane, even when the subject matter is the most inane of things. They'd done a piece last week (at Jiwoo's behest) on the contents of model Wong Kahei's purse, and Jungeun had spent the whole night tracking down the manufacturers of the individual components of the purse. Suffice to say, Jinsol, and the entire Internet, now know that Kahei carries around a purse with a zipper made in _Boston_ , of all places. 

Jinsol? Jinsol just follows the money. You can't afford principles and rent at the same time. 

Travelling alone means that they get to dictate their own schedules, and do pretty much whatever they want, as long as they get one video out every two weeks. That, and further progress on this Luna story, which is what's been driving Jungeun insane. 

Jinsol interrupts Jungeun's rambling one day as they're on the highway, a little worried that Jungeun might just keel over any day now, "Do you like sandwiches?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Jungeun wrinkle her nose. "Like Subway?" 

"I guess," Jinsol says, knowing that Jungeun has a (frankly inspiring) hatred for Subway. "There's a great sandwich shop where we're going. Let me take you there."

"So it _is_ like Subway," Jungeun says slowly, smiling clumsily. 

  
"You have _got_ to get over the Subway thing." Jinsol takes a left, and Jungeun is buoyed by the movement of the car, slumping against the window. 

She makes sure the child locks are on, just in case. 

-

"I'm sleepy," comes the complaint an hour later. They're still a good distance from the city - Jinsol has the pleasant sight of endless road stretching ahead of her to gaze at.

Jinsol takes another left. "I'm not surprised. You've been awake for how long now?" 

"Dunno," Jungeun slurs, fumbling with the cap of one of the pill bottles littering the front compartment of her backpack. She gets it open successfully, and proceeds to turn the thing upside-down, emptying its contents into her palm. 

Jinsol sneaks a look over. Four sleeping pills, which is better than she expected. At least she _thinks_ it's Jungeun's sleeping pills, and not any of the straight-up tranquilizers she has with her. She passes Jungeun a water bottle, and the pills go down with a quiet gulp in the next five seconds. 

She sighs when she sees Jungeun unscrewing the cap off a flask. "You shouldn't be doing that, you know." 

"I know." Jungeun takes a long swig, and pulls her legs up onto the seat. She's asleep by the next left turn.

-

"So?" Jinsol asks eagerly, peering over at Jungeun, "How is it?" 

Jungeun has an absolutely neutral expression. Her hands are absolutely still as they hold the sandwich in front of her, a small bite taken out of it. She'd gone with Jinsol's recommendation of meatballs and a double serving of mayo (triple on a good day), no vegetables. 

"Hmm," Jungeun says, somehow managing to sound extremely judgemental with just one sound. 

Jungeun's phone vibrates, and Jinsol takes the call as Jungeun takes another furtive bite. 

" _Jungeun_?" A spectacular crashing sound comes across the line, overshadowing Sooyoung's voice. " _You there_?" 

"We're both here," Jinsol supplies, looking up at Jungeun excitedly. "Jungeun's having the best sandwich of her life. Remember the place we used to go to?" 

"Hmm," Jungeun repeats, chewing faster, her face growing red.

" _Oh!"_ Sooyoung exclaims, " _So you're close to Seoul."_

Another crashing sound in the background, and Jinsol raises an eyebrow at Jungeun. The journalist shrugs. 

Sooyoung speaks after a brief interval of crashing and shouting in the background - Jinsol thinks she hears Jiwoo yelling. 

" _You probably shouldn't come back to HQ for a bit. I think someone's looking for you._ " 

Sooyoung hangs up, and Jungeun finally swallows the bite of her sandwich. 

"That wasn't ominous or weird at all," Jinsol says, but she's not too alarmed. She wasn't looking forward to going back to Seoul anyway, back to work. Out of it she feels like a wandering traveller, out on a trip. 

And the fact that it's with Jungeun doesn't help either. 

"Our interview with Yeojin is in Seoul," Jungeun frowns, already plucking her phone up to check her email. "We'll have to reschedule. Yeojin's manager said she was booked for the next three months, she's going on some travel show." Jungeun is chewing on her bottom lip nervously, "Maybe we can ask her to compromise. She'll understand, won't she?" 

"Ask a celebrity who got famous in her teens to _be understanding_ ," Jinsol deadpans, and Jungeun visibly deflates. She shoots her a comforting smile. "Yeah, that'll work."

Jungeun rolls her eyes, giving her a close-lipped smile as she begins tapping away at her phone to dial Yeojin's manager. Her phone vibrates before she can dial, and her screen's angled low enough that Jinsol can see the caller ID: _Haseul_.

Jungeun's expression tightens, and Jinsol makes the executive decision to set her sandwich down and grab Jungeun's phone from her. 

She jabs at the screen to hang up on Haseul, and grins at Jungeun, her heart racing. 

This is the moment Jungeun throws an entire sandwich at her camerawoman, Jinsol figures. Which wouldn't be the first time she's had a sandwich flung at her (which has only happened one other time, but it's kind of weird that it's happened before), but would be an unfortunate ending to their partnership. 

Instead, she leans over and kisses Jinsol. 

It's not how Jinsol thought their first kiss would go, with the taste of meatballs and mayo on her lips and in the middle of a diner she's frequented since she was a kid. But as far as first kisses go, this is by far the best. 

-

"Jinsol," Jungeun whispers breathlessly against her lips, later, in their hotel room. They're in a king-size bed, a mixup the receptionist had made that was probably the product of divine providence. "There's something I have to tell you." 

In the light of the setting sun, Jinsol can see just how kiss-swollen Jungeun's lips are. She blames it on her wavering self-control, and leans in to kiss her again. Jungeun laughs. It's a pretty sound. 

"What is it?"

Jungeun kisses her again, and rolls Jinsol onto her back until she's straddling Jinsol's hips. 

She leans down, eyes half-lidded, "That sandwich tasted like shit."

-

Jungeun doesn't sleep easily, but she does tonight. Tonight, it's Jinsol who can't sleep, and she finds herself staring at Jungeun's face, the way the tension Jungeun keeps in her expression has dissipated, the easy rise and fall of her shoulders. 

She looks a lot younger, a lot less stressed out. Jungeun's sleeping on her own right hand, her other hand cushioning her hip from the bed. It's a spectacularly strange position to sleep in, but she makes it look comfortable. 

Jinsol sighs, flipping onto her back and making peace with the fact that she probably won't sleep tonight. Her mind is racing a mile a minute, the way she often imagines Jungeun's to, and it won't calm down, so she settles for taking her phone from the bedside table, scrolling through Twitter. It's four in the morning.

She looks through _Girl Front Beyond's_ page. The social media intern back home has been doing her job well, and Jinsol notes that Choerry's retweeted one of their videos. Nothing related to her, just an interview they did with a male model a few months ago. Going onto Choerry's page, 

Jinsol realizes that she's retweeted even some of Jungeun's tweets, though they're a little older, from when Jungeun was a junior reporter at the _Herald_ and was live-tweeting the school board elections. The amount of traction Jungeun had received from her ferocious posts - for instance, suggesting that one of the candidates was, in fact, unfairly awarding field trip contracts to tour agencies managed by his wife (and another less credible one alleging that another candidate was in fact a lizard person) - was what got her fired from the _Herald_ , and what got her into Jiwoo and Sooyoung's clutches.

Before she knows it, she's on Jungeun's personal page, and she can't help but smile as she scrolls down her page. She turns on to her side, going down Jungeun's page - the latest one was from this morning, a picture of the two of them at the sandwich shop, the accompanying emoji blocked because Jinsol doesn't have them on her phone. She figures it must be something positive.

She manages to look through about a year's worth of tweets in an hour, and realizes that there hasn't been a moment where Jungeun was ever quiet. She just doesn't rest - either because she's too angry or too disappointed with the world. 

"You really are obsessed with me," Jungeun mutters, slinging an arm over Jinsol's waist, and Jinsol jerks, shivering at the touch of Jungeun's breath against the back of her neck, her quiet laughter. 

"Stuff it," Jinsol growls without any real malice, locking her phone and setting it aside. "I was just going to get some work done." 

"Yeah, right. I've been awake for the past ten minutes. I see all, Jung Jinsol." 

Jinsol groans out loud, and Jungeun just laughs again. Murmurs against her shoulder, interlacing their fingers, uncharacteristically clingy, "Just stay here." 

She's lulled to sleep before she can say otherwise. 

-

There's a plate of fried eggs on a bed of rice from room service (with the new order from Sooyoung not to come back to Seoul, Jungeun's figured that their abuse of the company credit card can ramp up as they please) when Jinsol wakes up. She eats propped up against the headboard, watching Jungeun type furiously into her laptop as she sits cross-legged on the floor. She's already dressed.

"Thanks for the food," she says when she's done. "Have you eaten?" 

Jungeun jerks a thumb at a half-finished cocktail. A sad little paper umbrella floats aimlessly in the glass. 

"Jungeun," Jinsol says disapprovingly, but Jungeun pretends not to hear her. She gets up to head to the bathroom, but not before she catches sight of Jungeun's screen. 

"Wong Kahei?" she asks in confusion, crouching down beside Jungeun and squinting through her glasses. Jungeun is practically radiating heat with how excited she is. "What are you doing looking her up?"

Jungeun has about fifteen tabs opened on her laptop, but what's more impressive is the speed with which she flips through them. "I had a hunch about Kim Hyunjin, so I looked Hyunjin up." 

Another tab, a sketchy-looking forum page. "There's nothing on her on the Internet. But she _is_ associated with Kahei, who worked with her for a few modeling gigs. Hyunjin is a _manager_."

She flips through a few more tabs. "She worked at Blockberry Creative, managing some actor who did some background work. You know who else worked at Blockberry Creative? _Jeon Heejin_." 

Jinsol frowns. "That tells us nothing. We just know that they worked together at one point in time. Luna wasn't under Blockberry Creative." 

"No, because if we get to Blockberry, we can find out more about both of them." Jungeun flips to another tab. Blockberry Creative's corporate page shines back up at them, the smiling face of one of their chief executives beaming back up at them. Jinsol doesn't recognize the woman, but she does recognize the name _Jo Haseul_ beside her face. "Guess which agency decided to start outsourcing their management?"

"Huh?" is the only sound Jinsol can make. 

"That's right," Jungeun says, "We're going to talk to my ex-wife." 

-

Later-

"This is a bad idea," Jinsol says for the third time in ten minutes. The only reason she'd gone along with this is because she didn't want Jungeun to drive drunk. Jungeun _says_ she isn't drunk, but Jinsol's thirty. She knows bullshit when she sees it. "Jungeun, this is a really bad idea."

The other woman is scribbling on a notepad, "It's a good lead. Kim Hyunjin won't talk to us."

"You haven't even called Hyunjin," Jinsol replies, a little irritated. "You're sabotaging yourself." 

Jungeun reacts like she's been slapped. " _What?_ "

"You haven't called her." 

"She wouldn't talk to us even if we did," Jungeun snaps, "You know how those types are." 

" _What_ types?" 

"I don't know!" Jinsol hears a rattle of a pill bottle, and Jungeun downs a few pills dry, having to swallow twice. "Look, all I know is that-" 

"Jungeun," she interrupts, pulling one of her hands from the steering wheel to grasp Jungeun's shaking hands. 

They drive in silence for a few miles, Jungeun's hands cold and small in Jinsol's own. This is another one of those moments where Jinsol realizes that she should be speaking, and that she can't rely on Jungeun to fill up the gap. 

"Let's try to contact Kim Hyunjin first, and then if you lose all your leads, you can call Haseul."

"Journalistic integrity," Jungeun says suddenly. "That's the only reason you think we shouldn't talk to Haseul, right?" 

The implications of the question soar above and beyond Jinsol's head for the time being, "Yeah." 

To her immense relief, Jungeun relaxes after a little while. "Thank you. Look, I-I'm sorry. I'm a little in my own head right now." 

Jinsol grins, trying to lighten the mood, "I know. You even said you didn't like the sandwich I bought you." 

Jungeun rolls her eyes, leaning over to punch Jinsol lightly on the shoulder. "Please, you bought it on the company credit card." 

"I was sticking it to the man," Jinsol retorts, and Jungeun just laughs. 

-

The line connects after one ring, and Jungeun speaks quickly, calmly, outlining who she is and what she's looking for, who she's after, glancing over at Jinsol once every so often to get a firm nod in response.

" _'ll meet you_ ," comes Kim Hyunjin's voice, " _T_ _he Pavilion Cafe in Dongdaemun, tomorrow, 11AM. I'll be the one in cat ears._ " 

  
"Dongdaemun," Jungeun says, "Like, _Seoul_ Dongdaemun?"

There's no response, and for the third time in a week, they get hung up on. Jinsol rolls her eyes. 

"So," Jungeun starts, absentmindedly reaching over to play with the end of Jinsol's coat. "Sounds like we go to Seoul or we lose the best lead we've got." 

Jinsol grins, already setting their GPS up. 

-

"Do you think Jiwoo would ever buy views?" Jungeun asks, her knees to her chest as they're on the road to Seoul. 

Jinsol thinks briefly about what she knows of Jiwoo. "Nah." 

"So the views on this video are real?" Jungeun asks. 

"Yeah. Why wouldn't they be?" 

Jungeun shrugs. "I don't know. It just feels surreal that anyone would want to watch me talk, you know? I know they're watching because they're invested in the subject and not me, but still-"  
  


"Don't be dumb," Jinsol chastises gently, giving Jungeun an unabashed grin. "Of course they're watching for you." 

Jungeun laughs again, and then asks her, "So what's in it for you? Someone might be trying to kill us and you still agree to come to Seoul." 

"I'm from Seoul, you know." Jinsol grins. "And I thought the little country bumpkin would need someone to show her around the big city." 

"I'm from a big city _too_ ," Jungeun complains, then, "God, why does everyone from Seoul think everyone else grew up playing in grass? Did you think I didn't know what the Internet was before I got to Seoul?" 

A small pout is forming on Jungeun's lips. It's adorable. 

"Yes?" Jinsol asks innocently, and for her trouble, gets pelted in the head with a banana peel from lunch. 

-

"Seriously," Jungeun says later, "What's in it for you?"

Jinsol takes her time thinking. She thinks about her bed in her apartment, her empty fridge, the small pot of honey she has sitting on the counter because honey's one of the things that doesn't spoil, and Jinsol is rarely home. She thinks about the neighbours' dog and how it runs to greet her when she passes by. She thinks about her career, and how she'd like to spend a good, long life with someone. Someone who would understand that Jinsol, truthfully, doesn't want much - just the promise of a life with someone she loves, doing what she loves. 

She looks over at Jungeun. Looks back at the road, and sighs a little, more to herself than anything. 

"Home, I guess."

**Author's Note:**

> pt 2 in like.. a week? 
> 
> twt @9dalsol


End file.
